SWAZI KING’S PAPER TELLS PM TO QUIT

The Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, has told Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s Prime Minister, his deputy and the Finance Minister to all resign.

‘[The] PM has allowed himself to be party to the collapse of our economy and there is no better punishment than to ask him to leave,’ Thulani Thwala, the editor of the Observer says.

Thwala, writing in his own newspaper today (29 December 2010), also calls for Majozi Sithole, the Finance Minister, and Themba Masuku, the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), to quit.

Thwala writes, ‘Reality is; we are in trouble as a country and definitely 2011 will be such a mountain to climb for many of us. In a nutshell, we are dead walking. Who is to blame for the situation we find ourselves in as a country? Look no further than the PM, DPM and Finance Minister Majozi Sithole.’

He goes on, ‘Here are three thoroughly educated Swazi men who are letting everyone including the King down. With their education combined, we should not be swimming in financial troubles.’

He goes on, ‘Now, the reason I picked on the three is simple; the current PM has been finance minister before, the longest serving one at that. The current DPM was once finance minister, a good one, if you like. And we have Majozi who has been in the finance office for over 11 years now.’

Writing on Sithole, Thwala says, ‘He has allowed people to plunder state funds without raising a finger,’

He goes on, ‘I ask; how did Majozi (an economist by profession or birth) fail to spot that our financial standing was collapsing in the 11 years he has been minister?

‘In normal countries, Majozi should have been asked to leave. He has allowed people to plunder state funds without raising a finger. Allowed lunatics (by his own admission) to keep government’s safe keys.

Thwala writes, ‘I know Majozi would argue that he has been issuing warnings in his recycled budget speeches and people ignored to listen. To me that is not good enough. His cabinet colleagues have been flying non-stop (business class or first class) to an extent that some are now personally known to pilots of the international flights.

‘I can’t find a single record where Majozi attempted to barricade some of his colleagues from attending the many useless international conferences. It would not surprise me to learn that some ministers attended swimming and cooking workshops overseas.’

He writes, ‘It would help if Majozi resigned. I strongly feel someone like Dumsani Masilela would make a good finance minister.’

Writing on Masuku, Thwala says,‘The DPM will also have to go, simple because of his status as an accomplice, an educated one at that, to the heartless strangling of the economy.’

Thwala also accuses Dlamini, who was illegally appointed Prime Minister of Swaziland by King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, and cabinet colleagues of greed and feathering their own nests by buying government land for themselves at vastly discounted prices.

To read Thwala’s full denunciation, click here.